October 10, 2007

Is Meeting People Easy?

Maybe you need a little break from In Rainbows, but still need a Radiohead fix. Here’s something you probably have never heard – a soundtrack to the band’s documentary, Meeting People Is Easy. Nope, you can’t buy this in stores. I made this myself back in the days when DVD Audio Extractor didn’t exist. No, I had to do this the hard way – I plugged my DVD player’s audio outputs into my computer’s soundcard and recorded the sound. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds – the volume level was very difficult to handle, as it could easily overwhelm the limits and distort, but I managed to get a good clean recording. But that’s not all – I did a LOT of editing, mixing in live tracks from singles that matched up with live parts of the video that I wanted to extend, or adding in some extended versions of background songs to flesh it out. There are a few tracks that have never been released anywhere – “Big Boots” and “Follow Me Around,” and, until now, “Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any)” which finally found an official home on In Rainbows as “Nude.” Here it is, 10 years ago, and it’s hardly changed at all.

This is not a concert recording, despite the fact that numerous live tracks pepper this – what it is is an audio documentary of the band. I can only take credit for creatively editing the contents down to one hour. I recommend listening to this in one sitting – it has a narrative of sorts, like the film, which you really owe yourself to see if you’re a fan.